Real is Beautiful
by NaleyWriter23
Summary: It was one of those days Haley decided to hate what she sees in the mirror, but Nathan quickly reminds her just how beautiful she is.


Haley Scott stepped out of the shower and sighed at the steamy reflection staring back at her in the intruding wall of glass mirrors. At almost thirty-five, her face was a museum for cracked wrinkles around her eyes and protruding lines distending around her lips. As a mother of four kids— with two under the age of 6— swollen and saggy skin seemingly hung below her eyes every single day, getting darker and darker with each passing day.

As the steam began to dissipate, Haley's reflection became clearer. She cringed at the newly forming pimple between her overly-plucked eyebrows. Didn't acne stop after sixteen? Apparently not.

She often prided herself on her confidence. She seldom felt like she had to prove herself to others, and long were the days where she compared herself to the plastic bimbos who threw themselves at her husband. Still, no amount of self-confidence in the world can stop the rare days where you decide to hate the mirror. For Haley Scott, today was one of those days. For someone who, for the most part, felt comfortable in her own skin, her teenage insecurities somehow managed to creep up every so often.

Tugging on the baggy skin beneath her eyes, she released a heavy sigh. She hated how damn big her eyes were— it always emphasized the dark circles on her face. After trying nearly every skin-care treatment on the market, Haley found nothing that worked. Not even the ridiculously expensive cream she bought online that claimed to clear-up dark circles in minutes. Yeah right— just another scam.

She thanked the Lord for concealer though. She'd need it today. Lots and lots of it. Reaching under the bathroom sink, Haley fumbled for her make-up kit, only to be met with empty space. Realizing she must have left it on her vanity table, she wrapped herself in a fluffy towel and quietly walked back into her bedroom, fully expecting her husband to be asleep.

She was shocked, then, when his wide open, bright blue eyes met hers from their bed.

"Hey, you," she beamed, just like she did whenever he was around. "You're up early."

Nathan Scott flashed her his infamous smirk that nearly had her wanting to drop the towel onto the floor right then and there; "You know I can't sleep without you next to me."

She blushed and turned to sit at her antique vanity (a Christmas gift from her thoughtful and loving husband), desperately trying to avoid her reflection in the smaller mirror. "Nathan, it's not even six yet. You still have at least another hour to sleep."

"I know," he mumbled, "but baby, come back to bed."

Damn him and his convincing grin.

"I can't," she sighed. "I have so much to do before the kids get up."

She couldn't look at his shirtless chest, those captivating blue eyes, or that damn sexy smirk. The whole reason why she woke up early was to avoid… that. Haley had so much to do today, there was no way she'd have time for her husband's morning antics. Not that she didn't want it, because, let's face it, when is there ever a time Haley doesn't want Nathan? Never. But she gives into him way too easily— much more easily than she'd like to admit, and therefore, the only way to stop herself, was to avoid him completely.

Now that he was awake though, getting anything done would be a struggle. Usually she packs the kids' lunches the night before, but of course, her husband walked into the kitchen shirtless last night and started kissing her neck and well, that was the end of that. She dragged him up the stairs faster than Usain Bolt in the Olympics. Okay, so yeah, it was her own damn fault she didn't pack their lunches or finish the paperwork for the cafe last night, but could you really blame her? Nathan Scott was the breathing version of sex.

"Haleyyyy," Nathan groaned in a voice way too similar to their three-year-old son whenever he doesn't get what he wants, "take that towel off and come lay with me."

As much as his want for her made Haley's heart flutter, she had to stay strong. Plus, she wasn't exactly feeling very beautiful at the moment and really wanted to put on makeup before starting the day. So she did what she always did whenever the kids started to whine— ignore him. She also silently prayed that he'd fall back asleep so she could get on with her routine distraction free. But, her husband was just as determined as she was— and if he wanted her to come back to bed, he'd do whatever it took to get his way.

"Hales," he called out again, watching with piqued interest as she started to apply some cream on her cheeks. "What are you doing?"

She met his gaze in the mirror, "putting on makeup."

"Why?"

A soft laugh emit from her lips, "what do you mean 'why?'"

Nathan blinked, "why are you putting on that shit? You don't need any of that, baby."

Haley scoffed, "oh, please. You really need to go back to sleep. The exhaustion is making you delirious. Either that or you need glasses."

He furrowed his dark brow, "What? I don't need glasses, I can see fine. You're perfect."

"If you really want me to go back to bed, I will," she playfully receded. "No need to lie to me, Nathan Scott."

She watched with confusion as he got out of bed, pulled on a pair of boxers, and knelt down beside her. He softly pried her fingers from around the makeup brush she was holding and put it on the vanity. "Look at me," he whispered.

She bit her lip and reluctantly turned to meet his eyes. Insecurity still whispered in the back of her head, but Nathan's heated gaze started to drown it out.

He brought one of his hands up to cup her cheek, and the other to hold her hand. "You are, without a doubt, the most beautiful human being on this planet— on the inside and out. Every time I stare at you, I fall in love with you more and more."

"Nathan—," she whispered, her voice cracking on the last syllable. Damn him. Her eyes pooled with tears when he leaned over to kiss the deeply carved lines etched around her lips.

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

Haley watched with a small pout as he momentarily got up to grab something. When he returned, her eyes widened when he started snapping pictures of her on his phone.  
"Nathan, what are you doing? I look terrible right now," she protested weakly.

"Hey," he scolded her softly, "what did I just say? You look beautiful. Always. Even more radiant when you don't wear makeup. You deserve to see yourself the way I see you. Look at this," he pulled up the image of her on his phone screen and zoomed in on her smile. "You see this smile? It's the reason I get out of bed every morning. Knowing you're happy is all I ever want."

A silent tear made a steady trek down her cheek. She didn't bother wiping it away.

"And you see these eyes?" He zoomed in on her brown eyes. She tried not to cringe at the prominent lines crunching around them. "They're my favorite sight in the entire world. You know why?"

She weakly shook her head.

"Because when I look into them, I feel like I'm home. No matter what's going on, all I have to do is look into your eyes, and I'm safe. They're so deep and big and God, they make my heart hurt. The best part is that our daughter has these same eyes and every time I look at her, it reminds me of how beautiful and strong you are."

Haley was a full-on sobbing mess now. She'd have to give the kids money for lunch because all she wanted to do for the rest of the morning was make love to him. Everything else just flew out the window— makeup included.

Standing up, she took his phone from his hands and put it back on the vanity. Seconds later, her towel dropped to the floor and a shy smile spread across her lips. "You're the only man in the world who has ever made me feel this beautiful."

"You are so beautiful, Hales," he pressed his lips to hers in a delicate yet passionate kiss. His hands lighting fires on the bare cheeks of her ass. "I wish you knew just how beautiful you are. I don't know why you think you need makeup."

Haley blinked back another fresh coat of tears and laughed. How was it that just minutes ago she couldn't bear to look at herself, and now she couldn't stop smiling?

"You're glowing," Nathan whispered in her ear, tracing his index finger over a sunspot on her cheek. "God, I love you."  
"I love you, too. So much."

He walked her over to their bed and smiled magnanimously.

"What?" Haley asked wearily. His grin said his thoughts were up to no good.

"Nothing," he shrugs nonchalantly, "just thinking about how handy those pictures will be the next time I'm on the road."

"What!" Haley shrieked, her skin instantly flushing red, "what does that mean?"

"Oh, I think you know exactly what it means, Haley James," his smirk stretched to his ears.

She rolled her eyes pretending to be unaffected. "Please, there are probably so many other pictures you can, uh, use."

"Well, yeah," Nathan laughed, "I have an entire album of Haley James pictures to use. This one might just be my favorite though."

Haley's red tinted skin deepened to burnt brown, "Nathan," she admonished. "It's just my face."

"'Just your face?'" He scoffed and grabbed her hand to bring to the hardened appendage in his boxers. "Your face is what did this."

"Stop it," she shrieked, "you're embarrassing me."

Nathan chuckled again and pressed a kiss to her nose, "Your face is beautiful."

"That only happened because your hands were all over my ass," she said before biting onto the edge of his ear.

"That's what you think," he gently pushed her onto her back and hovered above her, "trust me, Hales, you know you have a serious ass, but this time, that's not what made me this hard."

"Oh my God," she burrowed her face in the crux of his neck, "I get it, you proved your point. I'll never doubt myself again."

He smirked against her chest, "good. Now let me show you just how beautiful you are. We've got about 30 minutes before one of the kids come storming in."

Her giggles filled the room, "I don't understand how you can go from being so romantic to over-sexed in 15 seconds."

Nathan shrugged— his smirk never leaving his lips. "Blame Haley James."

Their laughs collided into moans as their lips pressed greedily together and Nathan's kisses had Haley forgetting all about her wrinkles.


End file.
